332 entries categorized "China"

May 17, 2016

The New York Times reports Chinese authorities are quietly scrutinizing technology products sold in China by Apple and other big foreign companies, focusing on whether they pose potential security threats to the country and its consumers and opening up a new front in an already tense relationship with Washington over digital security. Apple and other companies in recent months have been subjected to reviews that target encryption and the data storage of tech products, said people briefed on the reviews who spoke on the condition of anonymity. In the reviews, Chinese officials require executives or employees of the foreign tech companies to answer questions about the products in person, according to these people.

May 10, 2016

The New York Times reports an American warship sailed on Tuesday within 12 miles of an artificial island built by China in the South China Sea, an operation intended to show that the United States opposes China’s efforts to restrict navigation in the strategic waterway, the Pentagon said. The warship, the William P. Lawrence, a guided missile destroyer, ventured into the vicinity of Fiery Cross Reef, a 700-acre artificial island China constructed in the last 18 months on top of two small rocks.

April 27, 2016

The Associated Press reports members of Congress urged the Obama administration on Wednesday to order more naval operations close to disputed islands in the South China Sea. The State Department said Beijing risks conflict and isolation through its assertive behavior in those waters. Twice since the fall, the U.S. Navy has sailed by artificial islands built by China, and Deputy Secretary of State Antony Blinken told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee that such operations will take place regularly. Republicans said such "freedom of navigation" operations cruising within 12 nautical miles of the manmade islands - what China might consider as their territorial waters - should become routine.

April 25, 2016

The Associated Press reports tensions in the South China Sea are rising, pitting China against smaller and weaker neighbors that all lay claim to islands, coral reefs and lagoons in waters rich in fish and potential gas and oil reserves. Meantime, the U.S. Air Force flew its first mission over the contested Scarborough Shoal area as part of a new Air Contingent force stationed in the Philippines. It involved four A-10C Thunderbolt jets and two Sikorsky HH-60 helicopters. The mission: establishing air and maritime "domain awareness" and "assuring all nations have access to air and sea domains throughout the region in accordance with international law," according to a U.S. military statement.

April 14, 2016

The New York Times reports Philippine and American forces began conducting joint naval patrols in the South China Sea last month and will immediately start air operations over the area, United States Defense Secretary Ashton B. Carter said during a visit here on Thursday. The naval patrols were agreed on during a meeting in Washington in January between the defense departments of the two countries. The air operations will include aircraft and pilots currently participating in joint military exercises by the two countries in the Philippines.

April 11, 2016

The New York Times reports a Navy officer who became a naturalized American citizen has been charged with providing classified information to China, United States officials said. The charges against the officer, Lt. Cmdr. Edward C. Lin, who was born in Taiwan, are part of a secretive espionage case in which Commander Lin is also accused of visiting a prostitute. One United States official who was not authorized to speak publicly, speaking on condition of anonymity, said that Navy officials believed Commander Lin provided secret information to a Chinese girlfriend.

April 01, 2016

The New York Times reports President Obama gathered more than 50 world leaders here on Thursday to discuss one of his favorite topics: locking down nuclear weapons. But it was Obama’s meeting with one of the less friendly of those leaders, President Xi Jinping of China, that captured most of the attention. The leaders announced that the United States and China would sign a climate change accord later in April, a show of unity on an issue that has become a bright spot in the tangled relationship between the two countries. But they quickly moved on to more contentious issues, with Obama pressing Mr. Xi on China’s construction of military facilities in the South China Sea, actions that a White House official said belied a pledge the Chinese president had made last fall not to militarize those waters.

March 29, 2016

The Associated Press reports President Barack Obama will be meeting with Asian leaders in Washington this week as fears grow that long-smoldering tensions on the Korean Peninsula and in the South China Sea risk flaring into conflict. World leaders, including those from China, Japan and South Korea, will be in town for a summit hosted by Obama on nuclear security - the final round in the U.S. president's drive for international action to stop materials that could be used for an atomic weapon or dirty bomb from getting into terrorist hands.

March 24, 2016

The Washington Post reports a Chinese businessman pleaded guilty Wednesday in federal court in Los Angeles to helping two Chinese military hackers carry out a damaging series of thefts of sensitive military secrets from U.S. contractors. The plea by Su Bin, a Chinese citizen who ran a company in Canada, marks the first time the U.S. government has won a guilty plea from someone involved with a Chinese government campaign of economic cyberespionage. The resolution of the case comes as the Justice Department seeks the extradition from Germany of a Syrian hacker — a member of the group calling itself the Syrian Electronic Army — on charges of conspiracy to hack U.S. government agencies and U.S. media outlets.

March 21, 2016

Reuters reports China said on Monday agreements like the one reached last week by the United States and the Philippines allowing for a U.S. military presence at five Philippine bases raised questions about militarization in the South China Sea. The United States is keen to boost the military capabilities of East Asian countries and its own regional presence in the face of China's assertive pursuit of territorial claims in the South China Sea, one of the world's busiest trade routes. The United States and its regional allies have expressed concern that China is militarizing the South China Sea with moves to build airfields and other military facilities on the islands it occupies.

March 18, 2016

Reuters reports the United States has seen Chinese activity around a reef China seized from the Philippines nearly four years ago that could be a precursor to more land reclamation in the disputed South China Sea, the U.S. Navy chief said on Thursday. The head of U.S. naval operations, Admiral John Richardson, expressed concern that an international court ruling expected in coming weeks on a case brought by the Philippines against China over its South China Sea claims could be a trigger for Beijing to declare an exclusion zone in the busy trade route. Richardson told Reuters the United States was weighing responses to such a move.

March 16, 2016

The Washington Post reports the Navy’s top admiral in the Pacific said Tuesday that there is a “palpable sense” in the region that “might makes right” has taken root as a philosophy — and he warned that the present chaos in the Middle East, eastern Europe and northern Africa may be an example of what the future could hold. Adm. Scott Swift, commander of the U.S. Pacific Fleet, said at a maritime conference in Australia that both the acceleration of military activities in the region and the lack of transparency about them are concerns, according to a copy of the remarks provided by his staff. He called for Pacific nations to adhere to longstanding rules in the region that have been a “gold standard” for avoiding conflict.

March 14, 2016

BBC News reports China's Supreme Court is setting up its own international maritime "judicial center" to handle territorial disputes. The top court gave few details in its announcement, but said the center would help China become a "maritime power". Beijing is locked in disputes with its neighbors over claims in the resource-rich South China Sea, with tensions raised in recent months over China's aggressive land reclamation. It has also squared off with Japan over the Diaoyu or Senkaku islands.

March 04, 2016

The New York Times reports as China’s economy slows, its military budget will rise by 7 percent to 8 percent this year, less than the double-digit increases that have been the norm for years, a senior official said on Friday. But the official, Fu Ying, a spokeswoman for China’s legislature, the National People’s Congress, gave no sign that Beijing would soften its stance on disputes in the South China Sea, and she renewed China’s warnings to the United States not to intervene there. Fu declined to say exactly how much military spending would rise. But she said the increase — to be revealed Saturday at the start of the annual legislative session, which will approve the budget and other government plans — would be relatively modest.

March 02, 2016

The New York Times reports the chief of the United States Pacific Command, Adm. Harry B. Harris Jr., on Wednesday proposed reviving an informal strategic coalition made up of the navies of Japan, Australia, India and the United States, an experiment that collapsed a decade ago because of diplomatic protests from China. The proposal was the latest in a series of United States overtures to India, a country wary of forming strategic alliances, to become part of a network of naval powers that would balance China’s maritime expansion. The American ambassador to India, Richard R. Verma, expressed hope in a speech that “in the not-too-distant future,” joint patrols by navy vessels from India and the United States “will become a common and welcome sight throughout Indo-Pacific waters.”

February 25, 2016

Reuters reports Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi on Thursday underscored his concerns about the long range of a powerful U.S. radar that could be deployed in South Korea along with an advanced missile defense system and said Washington should explain its plans. Wang told an event hosted by the Center for International and Strategic Studies think tank that China remained committed to working with the United States and other countries to de-nuclearize the Korean peninsula. He said he was optimistic that the United Nations would agree on a resolution criticizing North Korea for its Jan. 6 nuclear test.

The New York Times reports the United States and China have agreed to stiffen international financial sanctions against North Korea in a major shift for Beijing, which has long been unwilling to further isolate its intransigent ally. Whether the development, confirmed Thursday by diplomats at the United Nations Security Council, means that China will take steps to prevent North Korean ships from bringing coal and iron ore to Chinese ports remains unclear. The United States had pushed for a partial ban on permitting North Korean ships to enter ports around the world.

February 24, 2016

Reuters reports the head of the U.S. Navy's Pacific Command told a congressional committee on Wednesday he will carry out more, and more complex, freedom of navigation operations in the South China Sea. "We will be doing them more, and we'll be doing them with greater complexity in the future and as the Secretary has said, we'll fly, sail and operate wherever international law allows," Admiral Harry Harris told a House Armed Services Committee hearing, referring to U.S. Defense Secretary Ash Carter. "We must continue to operate in the South China Sea to demonstrate that that water space and the air above it is international," Harris reiterated to lawmakers at Wednesday's hearing. On Tuesday, Harris said China is "changing the operational landscape" in the South China Sea by deploying missiles and radar as part of an effort to militarily dominate East Asia.

February 19, 2016

Al Jazeera reports Vietnam has lodged a formal complaint to the UN over China's placement of a surface-to-air missile battery on a disputed island in the South China Sea. The country's foreign ministry said on Friday it was deeply concerned by the Chinese deployment, which it said threatened regional stability. "These are serious infringements of Vietnam's sovereignty over the Paracels, threatening peace and stability in the region as well as security, safety and freedom of navigation and flight," Le Hai Binh, Vietnam's foreign ministry spokesman, said in a statement.

February 17, 2016

BBC News reports China has deployed surface-to-air missiles on a disputed island in the South China Sea, Taiwan says. Satellite images taken on 14 February appear to show two batteries of eight missile launchers and a radar system on Woody or Yongxing Island in the Paracels. The presence of missiles would significantly increase tensions in the acrimonious South China Sea dispute. China's Foreign Minister Wang Yi said reports were a Western media invention. But Wang defended "the limited and necessary self-defense facilities" on islands inhabited by Chinese personnel as "consistent with the right for self-preservation and self-protection.... under the international law".

February 01, 2016

The Associated Press reports China strongly condemned the United States after a U.S. warship deliberately sailed near one of the Beijing-controlled islands in the hotly contested South China Sea to exercise freedom of navigation and challenge China's vast territorial claims. The missile destroyer USS Curtis Wilbur sailed within 12 nautical miles (22 kilometers) of Triton Island in the Paracel chain "to challenge excessive maritime claims of parties that claim the Paracel Islands," without notifying the three claimants beforehand, Defense Department spokesman Mark Wright said Saturday in Washington. China, Taiwan and Vietnam have overlapping claims in the Paracels and require prior notice from ships transiting what they consider their territorial waters.

January 27, 2016

The New York Times reports Secretary of State John Kerry warned on Wednesday that if China failed to do more to curb North Korea’s enhanced nuclear capacity, Washington would take steps that China has strongly opposed, including deploying defense systems to protect American allies in Asia. “This is a threat the United States must take extremely seriously,” Kerry said of North Korea’s growing nuclear arsenal at a news conference with the Chinese foreign minister, Wang Yi. “The United States will take all necessary steps to protect our people and allies. We don’t want to heighten security tensions. But we won’t walk away from any options.”

December 08, 2015

Reuters reports the United States has agreed with Singapore on a first deployment of the U.S. P8 Poseidon spy plane in Singapore this month, in a fresh response to China over its pursuit of territorial claims in the South China Sea. China, which is at odds with Washington over the South China Sea, said on Tuesday the move was aimed at militarizing the region. In a joint statement after a meeting in Washington on Monday, U.S. Defense Secretary Ash Carter and Singapore Defense Minister Ng Eng Hen welcomed the inaugural deployment of the aircraft in Singapore from Dec. 7 to 14. A U.S. defense official said further deployments in Singapore could be expected. The move comes at a time of heightened tensions in the South China Sea.

The New York Times reports the Islamic State has been recruiting far and wide for members to join its ranks on the battlefields of Iraq and Syria or elsewhere. Now those efforts are extending to China. The group recently posted a digital recording of a new chant in Mandarin Chinese that calls for Muslims to “wake up” and “take up weapons to fight.” The chant is typical of many others released by the group, also called ISIS or ISIL. The chant was posted online by Al Hayat Media Center, the foreign-language media division of the Islamic State, according to an assessment on Monday by the SITE Intelligence Group, which tracks the propaganda of jihadist groups.

December 02, 2015

The Washington Post reports the Chinese government recently arrested a handful of hackers it says were connected to the breach of Office of Personnel Management’s database earlier this year, a mammoth break-in that exposed the records of more than 22 million current and former federal employees. The arrests took place shortly before a state visit in late September by President Xi Jinping, and U.S. officials say they appear to have been carried out in an effort to lessen tensions with Washington. The identities of the hackers — and whether they have any connection to the Chinese government — remain unclear. If the individuals detained were indeed the hackers, the arrests would mark the first measure of accountability for what has been characterized as one of the most devastating breaches of U.S. government data in history.

December 01, 2015

The Washington Post reports the Chinese military scaled back its cybertheft of U.S. commercial secrets in the wake of Justice Department indictments of five officers, and the surprising drawdown shows that the law enforcement action had a more significant impact than is commonly assumed, current and former U.S. officials said. The People’s Liberation Army (PLA) has not substantially reengaged in commercial cyberespionage since then-Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. announced charges against the officers in May 2014, the officials said. It is still unclear, however, whether President Xi Jinping will be able to deliver on a September pledge to President Obama that China would not conduct economic spying in cyberspace to benefit its own companies. As the United States and China prepare for high-level cyber-talks in Washington beginning Tuesday, officials and private-sector analysts say there is evidence that China’s civilian spy agency, the Ministry of State Security, continues to conduct significant commercial espionage operations.

November 13, 2015

BBC News reports two U.S. B-52 bomber planes have flown near artificial islands built by China in disputed areas of the South China Sea, the Pentagon has said. Their mission continued despite being warned by Chinese ground controllers. The incident comes ahead of a visit by US President Barack Obama to a summit in Manila next week, which China's President Xi Jinping will also attend. China is locked in maritime territorial disputes with several neighbors in the South China Sea. It claims a large swathe of the resource-rich area and has been aggressively reclaiming land and building facilities on reefs, which the U.S. and others oppose.

November 05, 2015

The Associated Press reports with a key Asian ally at his side, U.S. Defense Secretary Ash Carter made a subtle jab at China on Thursday by flying aboard an American aircraft carrier plying the contested waters of the South China Sea. He and his Malaysian counterpart, Hishammuddin Hussein, watched U.S. Navy fighter jets roar off the steel deck of the USS Theodore Roosevelt as it sailed under a midday sun about 70 miles northwest of Borneo. Carter said his visit and the presence of the hulking warship should not be seen as a new twist to the U.S. naval presence is Asia. But he made no bones about the signal he was sending by visiting amid rising tensions with China.

November 04, 2015

The New York Time reports differences over the South China Sea forced countries from Southeast Asia, along with China and the United States, to cancel a joint statement at a meeting of defense ministers in Malaysia on Wednesday. The Chinese Ministry of Defense confirmed that the meeting of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, or Asean, had failed to conclude a joint declaration, and it blamed “the individual country (countries) out of the region.” In a statement on its website, the ministry implied, but did not name, the United States as the main reason for the breakdown in the discussions. The ministry did not mention the South China Sea or China’s insistence that the statement not include any mention of the strategic waterway.

November 03, 2015

The Washington Post reports the CIA did not pull officers from Beijing in the wake of the Chinese hack of millions of sensitive personnel records disclosed earlier this year, the nation’s top intelligence official said Monday. Asked at a Defense One national security conference whether CIA officers were removed from Beijing, Director of National Intelligence James R. Clapper Jr. said “No.” He did not elaborate. The Washington Post, citing current and former U.S. officials, reported in September that the agency had pulled officers as a precautionary move. A CIA spokesman declined to comment Monday. Chinese government hackers last year compromised two databases housed by the Office of Personnel Management, one of which contained sensitive personal details collected during security-clearance investigations for millions of federal employees.

The New York Times reports the head of the United States Pacific Command, Adm. Harry B. Harris Jr., said in Beijing on Tuesday that the Navy would continue to conduct freedom of navigation operations similar to one in the South China Sea last week that China criticized. Speaking to a small audience at the Stanford Center at Peking University, Admiral Harris defended the operation last week, which involved sending a destroyer inside the 12-nautical-mile radius that China claims as its territorial waters around Subi Reef, an artificial island built by the Chinese in the South China Sea. “We’ve been conducting freedom of navigation operations all over the world for decades, so no one should be surprised by them,” Admiral Harris said. “The South China Sea is not, and will not, be an exception.”

November 02, 2015

Reuters reports U.S. Deputy National Security Advisor Ben Rhodes said on Monday that there would be more demonstrations of the United States’ commitment to the freedom of navigation in the disputed South China Sea. “That’s our interest there… It's to demonstrate that we will uphold the principle of freedom of navigation," Rhodes said while speaking at event in Washington. Rhodes’ comments come after a U.S. guided-missile destroyer sailed close to one of Beijing’s man-made islands in the South China Sea last week. The USS Lassen's patrol was the most significant U.S. challenge yet to the 12-nautical-mile territorial limits China claims around artificial islands it has built in the Spratly archipelago.

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The USS Lassen's patrol was the most significant U.S. challenge yet to the 12-nautical-mile territorial limits China claims around artificial islands it has built in the Spratly archipelag

October 30, 2015

Al Jazeera reports China's naval chief has issued a serious warning to the U.S. navy against carrying out "provocative acts" in the South China Sea, two days after Washington vowed to again sail warships near disputed islands there. Wu Shengli told his US counterpart John Richardson that even "a minor incident could spark conflict" between the two sides, China's official Xinhua agency reported on Friday, three days after a USS Lassen, a guided-missile destroyer, sailed within 22km of at least one of the man-made land formations claimed by Beijing. "If the U.S. continues to carry out these kinds of dangerous, provocative acts, there could be a serious situation between frontline forces from both sides on the sea and in the air, or even a minor incident that could spark conflict," Wu said.

October 29, 2015

Opinio Juris reports it’s been a rough week for China’s South China Seas policy. In addition to facing a US Freedom of Navigation operation near one of its artificial islands, the arbitration tribunal formed under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea has decided that it has jurisdiction to proceed to the merits on the Philippines’ legal challenge to certain Chinese activities in the South China Sea. The tribunal reserved the question of jurisdiction over the Philippines’ biggest and most flashy claim: the argument that China’s Nine Dash Line “historic rights” claim is inconsistent with UNCLOS.

October 28, 2015

Reuters reports U.S. Chief of Naval Operations Admiral John Richardson and his Chinese counterpart, Admiral Wu Shengli, will hold an hour long video teleconference Thursday, days after China was angered by a U.S. warship's patrol within a 12-mile limit around a man-made island in the South China Sea, according to a U.S. official. The meeting was initiated by both officers to discuss recent operations in the South China Sea and the naval relationship between the two countries, the official said. This will be the third video teleconference held between a U.S. naval operations chief and the Chinese equivalent.

October 26, 2015

Reuters reports the U.S. Navy plans to send the USS Lassen destroyer within 12 nautical miles of artificial islands built by China in the South China Sea within 24 hours, the first of more regular challenges to China's territorial claims, a U.S. defense official said on Monday. The destroyer's patrol would occur near Subi and Mischief reefs in the Spratly archipelago, features that were formerly submerged at high tide before China began a massive dredging project to turn them into islands in 2014. The ship would likely be accompanied by a U.S. Navy P-8A surveillance plane, and possibly P-3 surveillance plane, which have been conducting regular surveillance missions in the region, according to the official.

October 19, 2015

The Washington Post reports Chinese government hackers have attempted in the past few weeks to penetrate the networks of U.S. companies to steal their secrets despite a pledge by China’s president that they would not do so, according to private researchers. Chinese hackers have targeted at least seven U.S. companies since President Xi Jinping vowed last month in Washington that his country would not conduct economic cyberespionage — the theft of trade secrets and intellectual property for the benefit of the nation’s industries, according to CrowdStrike, a firm that helps companies track and prevent intrusions.

October 09, 2015

Reuters reports the commander of U.S. forces in the Pacific said on Friday the United States must carry out freedom of navigation patrols throughout the Asia Pacific, but declined to say whether it planned go within 12 nautical miles of China's artificial islands in the South China Sea. Admiral Harry Harris told a Washington seminar one of his responsibilities was to offer options to President Barack Obama and Secretary of Defense Ash Carter, and added, "I'm comfortable knowing those options are being considered." Asked about reports that the United States planned to challenge 12-nautical mile limits around China's artificial islands, he replied: "I will not confirm that. I simply won't discuss future operations."

September 30, 2015

The Washington Post reports the CIA pulled a number of officers from the U.S. Embassy in Beijing as a precautionary measure in the wake of the massive cybertheft of the personal data of federal employees, current and former U.S. officials said. The move is a concrete impact of the breach, one of two major hacks into Office of Personnel Management computers that were disclosed earlier this year. Officials have privately attributed the hacks to the Chinese government. The theft of documents has been characterized by senior U.S. officials as political espionage intended to identify spies and people who might be recruited as spies or blackmailed to provide useful information.

September 25, 2015

The Washington Post reports China has finished its first airstrip in the hotly-contested Spratly Island chain in the South China Sea, according to new satellite photos released by IHS Janes. The airstrip, located on Fiery Cross Reef, is more than 3,000 meters long and appears to be complete due to the new presence of runway heading markings and helipad designators. Fiery Cross is just one of three reefs in the Spratly group of islands that China has built airstrips on. Currently, airstrips of the same length are under construction on Mischief Reef and Subi Reef. According to IHS Janes, a defense analysis company, the completion of the runway indicates that China will soon be able to ferry in more supplies and start air patrols over the disputed island chain.

The New York Times reports President Obama said Friday that he had reached a “common understanding” with President Xi Jinping of China to combat “cyber-enabled theft of intellectual property,” but made it clear that wide areas of disagreement remained over how to stop an escalation of Chinese cyberthefts and the possibility of an American response. With Xi standing beside him at a Rose Garden news conference, Obama referred to the cyberattacks against American targets and said, “I indicated it has to stop.” But he also hailed progress with China on climate change and the nuclear accord with Iran, and said that both he and Xi were committed to pressing ahead against the North Korean nuclear problem, which has defied solution for more than 20 years.

September 22, 2015

BBC News reports Chinese President Xi Jinping has arrived in Seattle at the start of his first state visit to the US. Xi will spend three days meeting business and technology leaders in Seattle, before heading to Washington for talks with President Barack Obama. Cyber security is expected to feature prominently in their discussions, after the U.S. said Chinese spying was putting a strain on bilateral relations. On Monday, Xi denied there was any state-backed hacking of U.S. companies. But he said Beijing - which has previously complained it is a victim of hacking - was "ready to strengthen cooperation with the U.S. side on this issue". U.S. National Security Adviser Susan Rice had on Monday said Chinese-backed hacking was undermining long-term economic co-operation between the US and China "and it needs to stop".

September 21, 2015

The New York Times reports the United States and China are negotiating what could become the first arms control accord for cyberspace, embracing a commitment by each country that it will not be the first to use cyberweapons to cripple the other’s critical infrastructure during peacetime, according to officials involved in the talks. While such an agreement could address attacks on power stations, banking systems, cellphone networks and hospitals, it would not, at least in its first version, protect against most of the attacks that China has been accused of conducting in the United States, including the widespread poaching of intellectual property and the theft of millions of government employees’ personal data.

September 16, 2015

The New York Times reports government officials say they intend to fire a Chinese-American hydrologist who was prosecuted but eventually cleared of espionage-related charges. The hydrologist, Sherry Chen, an employee of the National Weather Service, received a letter over Labor Day weekend notifying her that the government planned to fire her for many of the same reasons it originally prosecuted her. Last year, federal agents investigated Mrs. Chen as a possible Chinese spy. They found no evidence of espionage, but still arrested her on lesser charges that could have led to 25 years in prison and $1 million in fines. The Justice Department ultimately dropped the case.

September 15, 2015

The Washington Post reports the United States will not impose economic sanctions on Chinese businesses and individuals before the visit of China President Xi Jinping next week, a senior administration official said Monday. The decision followed an all-night meeting on Friday in which senior U.S. and Chinese officials reached “substantial agreement” on several cybersecurity issues, said the administration official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the topic’s sensitivity. The potential for sanctions in response to Chinese economic cyberespionage is not off the table and China’s behavior in cyberspace is still an issue, the official said. “But there is an agreement, and there are not going to be any sanctions” before Xi arrives on Sept. 24, the official said.

The New York Times reports new satellite images show that China has started construction of an airstrip on a third artificial island in the South China Sea that will strengthen Beijing’s military capacity in the contested waters, Western analysts say.The airstrip on Mischief Reef is about 20 miles from a small Philippine military garrison on an existing tiny island and will put the installation under great pressure, said James Hardy, Asia-Pacific editor of IHS Jane’s Defense Weekly. That airstrip will most likely be used for turboprop patrol, but it could easily be equipped for “full military action” if needed, Mr. Hardy said.

September 09, 2015

The New York Times reports as President Xi Jinping of China prepares for his first state visit to the United States this month, Washington has warned that it could hit Chinese companies with sanctions over digital attacks for trade secrets. Beijing is now pushing back in an unorthodox way: by organizing a technology forum to demonstrate its own sway over the American tech industry. The meeting, which is set to take place Sept. 23 in Seattle, is planned to feature China’s Internet czar, Lu Wei, the overseer of China’s restrictions on foreign technology companies. A number of Chinese tech executives, including Robin Li of Baidu and Jack Ma of Alibaba, along with executives from top American tech companies including Apple, Facebook, IBM, Google and Uber, have been invited

September 04, 2015

The Washington Post reports a group of Chinese naval vessels transited U.S. territorial waters near Alaska this week, a Pentagon official said on Friday, in an unusual maneuver that underscores the potential for increased U.S.-Chinese friction at sea. A U.S. military official, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss details of the Chinese naval movements, said the group of five Chinese vessels had passed within about 12 nautical miles of the Aleutian Islands following a joint Russian-Chinese military exercise. The ships did not violate international law, which allows countries to transit other nations’ seas under what is called “innocent passage,” the official said. He likened China’s movement through U.S. waters off Alaska to the activities of U.S. ships in the Strait of Hormuz, off the coast of Iran.

September 03, 2015

The Washington Post reports China unveiled a host of new military equipment at the country’s military parade Thursday in celebration of the 70th anniversary of Japan’s surrender at the end of World War II. Chinese President Xi Jinping’s remarks portrayed China as an arbiter of peace. “Prejudice and discrimination, hatred and war can only cause disaster and pain,” said Xi. “China will always uphold the path of peaceful development.” Xi also announced that he would cut 300,000 troops from the roughly 2.3 million-strong military at his disposal.

Reuters reports the United States has imposed sanctions on Russian and Chinese companies, including Russian state-owned arms exporter Rosoboronexport, for violating a U.S. law restricting weapons trade with Iran, North Korea and Syria. The U.S. State Department published a notice of the sanctions in the Federal Register on Wednesday. They were later condemned by the Russian Foreign Ministry. Moscow will take countermeasures in response to new U.S. sanctions, Interfax reported late on Wednesday, citing a commentary on the Russian Foreign Ministry's website.